Bonding
by Nibiru-Mul
Summary: Just a little drabble I wrote for Christmas. Steven Stone is getting a visit from his family around the holiday. But what really makes him happy is a little bonding with his infant son.


_**DISCLAIMER:**__ I do not own Steven Stone. He is property of Nintendo. I do, however, own many of the characters, such as Steven's wife Juliana and their two children, as well as most of Steven's other relatives (except Mr. Stone, who appears in the actual games)._

_This story takes place after the events of Ruby and Sapphire. I'd say it's a little bit after the events of Black and White._

_This is my Christmas fanfic._

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**THE ESTATE OF NIBIRU-MUL PRESENTS**

**CHRISTMAS WITH THE STONES**

It was a cool December night in Mossdeep City. Dark clouds covered the sky. The wind blew along the bare trees.

Plenty of people were getting ready for the holidays. They were decorating their houses and partaking in all sorts of Christmas activities. This story takes place in one of those houses - a house located by the water. It was a large grey house with trees flanking it. There were various large rocks outside of it. This house belonged to Steven Stone, the former Hoenn champion.

Steven had been living in this house for several years now. He lived with his wife, Juliana, a childhood friend of his who he married several years prior. Together the couple has two children: a little girl named Elizabeth and a baby boy named Patrick.

Let's take a look inside. Steven was reclining in a big blue armchair located in his library. He was clad in a green smoking jacket, a purple ascot, a pair of black pants, velvet slippers, and an embroidered smoking cap. His silvery blue hair is the same as it has always been. He was reading a book on geology.

Steven was feeling content with his family life, but he always felt like he wanted to get out. He wanted to travel to other regions and see the world. Steven had not had a real holiday in a while. But he knew that family came first and he had to take care of them.

While Steven read his book, he heard some soft cooing. He turned to his left. Patrick, a six-month-old baby dressed in green footie pajamas, was crawling around in his playpen. When Steven saw Patrick, he smiled.

"I'll be right there," said Steven.

Steven put down his book on the side table nearby. He got up from his chair and walked over to Patrick. Patrick was small, but he already had plenty of hair on his head - it looked kind of like Steven's hair. Steven saw that the baby was trying to look up at his father.

"Hey," said Steven, "how are you doing?" He let out his hands in the crib.

Patrick crawled into Steven's hands. Once Patrick was being held tight, he tried to play with the gold rings on Steven's hands.

"Don't play with Daddy's jewelry," said Steven. "It's very expensive." Steven took his son's hand and gently moved it away from his fingers.

Next, Steven heard the doorbell ring.

"That must be my parents," he said.

Steven left the room and walked to the front door. He opened it up. He saw his parents, Robert and Antonia Stone. The former was the same Mr. Stone that was head of the corporation in Rustboro City. He was eleven years older than his wife. Steven's family was fairly large - he was the youngest of his father's five children. He had two older half-sisters and a half-brother from his father's first marriage, as well as a full sister. But Steven was the one who was closest with his father.

"Hello, son," said Mr. Stone. "We bought the roast beef that you requested."

"Good," said Steven. "Put it on the table so we can eat it later." Mr. Stone went to put the roast beef in the kitchen. "It was nice of you to come - though it isn't Christmas yet."

"I know it's in a week," said Mrs. Stone, "but we wanted to come anyway."

"Juliana and Elizabeth are in the living room," said Steven.

Steven led his mother into the living room. He seated them on a couch. Steven's wife Juliana was sitting on an armchair. She was a short woman - much shorter than her husband. She had brown hair and glasses. She was wearing a blue dress suit. Their daughter Elizabeth was sitting near the Christmas tree, playing with a doll. Elizabeth was a 3-year-old girl with silver hair. She was wearing a red dress.

"I'm glad you all could come," said Steven. "We've been feeling kind of lonely around here. I know we've got each other, but still..."

"I understand," said Mrs. Stone. "Ever since Sophia, your older sister, moved to Johto it's been hard."

"Anyway," said Juliana, "I got all my Christmas shopping done. I thought it would be better to do it early."

Elizabeth got up and ran over to her father.

"Daddy!" she said. "Will you play dolls with me?"

"Later," said Steven. "I promise. First I have to feed Patrick. Mommy will play with you, though."

Steven turned around to his wife.

"Juliana?" he asked her. "Will you play with Elizabeth?"

"Okay," said Juliana.

"I'm going to go back to the library," said Steven.

Steven took Patrick back to his library. He sat down in the armchair.

"I think this would be better," said Steven. "You know...just the two of us. It can get a little strange in the living room."

Patrick cooed, and Steven smiled back at him.

"You know, Patrick," said Steven, "this is going to be your first Christmas. I hope you enjoy it. I always enjoy Christmas myself. I know that it's not about the presents; I feel happy enough having you and the rest of the family around."

Steven started to gently rock his son. He stopped after about a minute.

"I keep looking back on my life," said Steven. "All the good times and bad times that I've had, like meeting Brendan and May, being caught in the middle of those two teams, seeing the legendary Pokemon for myself, and helping Wallace become the Champion. ...Of course, you'll understand that better when you're older."

Steven proceeded to give his son a bottle.

"I want you to know, Patrick," said Steven, "that you and your sister were what really lit up my life. I wouldn't trade you for all the excitement in the world. I think having you both is exciting enough. Sure you may look at me right now, wearing all this flashy clothing and jewelry, but you're what's more important. And you can count on me to love you. Your mom and I will always love you and take care of you."

Patrick smiled and reached out to hug Steven. Steven responded by hugging him.

"That's my boy," said Steven.

**THE END**

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Please review if you'd like.

Merry Christmas to all my readers!


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